Armed Met officer who crashed while racing at 80mph to scene of Streatham terror attack will not be disciplined after fury that he was taken to court

An armed Met Police officer who crashed while racing to the scene of a terror attack at 80mph will not be disciplined, a watchdog said today.

PC Paul Fisher, 46, was last month cleared of dangerous driving over a collision he was involved in while en route to Streatham in south London, where terrorist Sudesh Amman stabbed two people in February 2020.

A court heard the officer made a 'split-second error' when he lost control of his unmarked BMW X5 and ran in to the back of a taxi driver's Toyota before hitting a Ford Fiesta and a wall.

However the circumstances of the crash meant there was much anger that the case was brought to court in the first case, with Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley branding the prosecution 'appalling'.

Today, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) decided PC Fisher will not face misconduct or performance proceedings.

The watchdog has initially decided in 2021 that the officer should face gross incompetence proceedings.

IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: 'We have decided to withdraw this decision, taking into account that under the legislation gross incompetence proceedings must relate to the serious inability or failure of a police officer to perform the duties of their current role.

'We note that PC Fisher is not currently in a role which requires him to undertake urgent driving duties. We have also taken into account the impact of the trial on the officer and his family.'

The police car PC Fisher was driving did not have its blue lights on at the time because they had accidentally been switched off by one of the occupants, his trial at Southwark Crown Court heard.

The police vehicle, which did have its siren on, had been switched to 'arrival mode' and only had flashing rear red lights displayed, the court was told.

PC Fisher was with two other armed officers in the car, responding after terrorist Sudesh Amman stabbed two people in February 2020.

The 20-year-old grabbed a large kitchen knife from a hardware store on Streatham High Road in south London and stabbed his two victims at random.

A little over a minute later, he was shot dead after turning to charge at two undercover police officers.

PC Fisher was on a surveillance operation at the time of the crash, monitoring Amman after his release from jail ten days earlier.

Speaking outside the court following the verdict last month, Sir Mark said the case 'undermines the confidence of all officers using their powers to keep the public safe'.

He added: 'Thank God for the common sense of British juries.

'Paul Fisher is a firearms officer who was under the most unimaginable pressure, driving his vehicle at speed to the scene of a live terrorist attack nearly four years ago.

'He clearly made some mistakes on that drive, the right answer would have been some warnings within the organisation, some re-training, some re-testing to getting back to protecting the public.

'And yet here we are, four years later, when him and his family have faced unimaginable pressure having been pursued for that period of time by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and forced into a one-week crown court trial.

'The jury have rightly acquitted him today.'